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Is there such thing as a too powerful video card...

Obviously, More power is good right? but don't you need to factor in the type of computer you have??? I want to get a video card, but I don't know if getting the top of the line card will make any difference, since my computer is not up to the current standards. I have a k-6 2 450 mhz video card. I currently have 128 megs of ram and 6 gigs of space. The current video card that I have is one of those "built-in graphics accelerator." So technically, I don't have a video card. there are now 1000 megahertz computers in the market, so my computer is old news. And along with the 1000 megahertz PCs, comes the voodoo 5000 video cards and such.

My pc is strictly for personal use. Some type of gaming and mainly internet use. Do you think I should get the most current video card and not worry about getting another one in 30 years, or shold I just stick to the 16 megs of video card.(lets say Voodoo 3 or some older card) Will there be a differnce in the 2 video cards for me, since my computer is not the best there is?? I"ve never had a video card before, so I don't know how much it will do to my pc. Can my computer even handle such a powerful card?(64 megs right?) jeez.

So, what should I do?? go with the current technology, or just stick with something a little cheaper?? by the way, the budget is a big thing too, but if It is a good deal, I"m willing to throw a little extra.

Oh, and please reccommend some cards. I don't have any idea what to get?? price? I kind want it between 100-130 or less.

[This message has been edited by semidevil (edited 12-28-2000).]

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getting a powerful card now would save ya one upgrade later when you'll upgrade your system and a weaker card would be the bottleneck then. On the other hand, if you're planning on keeping this cpu/motherboard combo for a while, getting anything higher than a geforce 2mx or a v3 3k is pretty much overkill. If I was to keep that system, I'd prolly go for the V3, if not maybe a geforce2 gts. It depends what you're going to be doing with the computer, in the sense of how much upgrading are you willing to put into it. just my 2 cents, hope it helps! =)

If he has SS7 system with integrated video, he has no AGP slots. That would restrict the upgrade to PCI-only. Out of those I would suggest either V3 or Geforce 2 MX. The main benefit in getting the MX is the T&L support, which will help take some of the load off of the relatively weak CPU. BTW, why not overclock the CPU a bit???

i would say a g force mx the bet card for yr system it should be quite surficient for all of the games and it will be a wast getting a gf2 now when the nv20 is just around the corner and the cpu will not be able to keep up with it

yes, I am restricted to a pci card only. I don't really have any plans to do any type of heavy upgrade. I think the 450mhz will last me a while. I"m not really a heavy gamer either; just some 3d games to relieve stress from time to time. I"ve had my pc for 5 years and I only have 2 games, so that tells how much I play. So is the Voodoo 3 and GEforce MX the best bet?? Which one do you reccommend?? will it speed up my pc by any chance?? picture quality? affordablity?? doesn't break??

by the way, are those 2 cards only 16 megs of video ram?? Is that good? I mean, having hear news about Voodoo5 being 64 megs, 16 sounds really "whimpy." How good is 16 megs anyways compared to lets say 32? (also, factor in the kind of system I have)?

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Oh for crying out loud, if you only have two games then go get a Voodoo 3000, you'll be more then happy with it. Ok no neither will speed your system up but the Geforce 2 mx has mpeg & indeo acceleration as well as motion compensation in the chance you'd want to get a DVD-Rom.Also has support for HDtv. the V3 is a 16 meg card, the GF2mx is 32 meg. as far as 2d goes they're probably bout the same. The V3 can't do 32 bit colour in games but you probably wouldn't notice anyways. I have to say though that if you can get ahold of an mx cheap I suggest you do as it does have a lot of nice features as well as very sweet performance. And I can almost guarantee that if you got one you'd start playing a load more games ;-)

Originally posted by semidevil:
by the way, are those 2 cards only 16 megs of video ram?? Is that good? I mean, having hear news about Voodoo5 being 64 megs, 16 sounds really "whimpy." How good is 16 megs anyways compared to lets say 32? (also, factor in the kind of system I have)?[/B]

A 32MB video card won't really serve you well if you only play at lower resolutions like 800x600 or less. Get a cheap but decent card since you hardly play any games.